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Op-Ed: Why Pacquiao-Bradley could outsell Alvarez-Khan on PPV sales

In a surprise announcement that caught boxing fans almost unaware of any ongoing talks about the possible match, De la Hoya said Amir Khan will be facing Saul “Canelo” Alvarez on May 7 possibly at the new T-Mobile Arena of the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

After breaking the news, De la Hoya said the Alvarez-Khan match will generate 1 million PPV buys, which is more than what Top Rank’s Bob Arum expects for the Manny PacquiaoTimothy Bradley match scheduled for April 9 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena also in Las Vegas.

“We do not know how much [this event will bring in] but it is a mega-event. This is a big fight, one which no one expected and because we took the whole world by surprise – this fight is creating news stories all over the world and it will be larger that Cotto-Canelo. I expect that it’s going to do [a million] and that indicates that Canelo is a superstar,” De La Hoya told ESPN Deportes.

De la Hoya’s prediction seems like part of the hype to promote the fight. Alvarez and Khan are greenhorns in the PPV market and they would be lucky to duplicate the numbers in the Alvarez-Cotto fight.

Cotto is a seasoned PPV fighter which is why the Alvarez-Cotto fight did a relatively high number. Khan is a newcomer in the PPV market and will not contribute much to Alvarez’s PPV numbers.

Setting aside Alvarez’ PPV bouts with Floyd Mayweather and Miguel Cotto, Alvarez highest PPV output was 350,000 against Alfredo Angulo and 300,000 against Erislandy Lara.

With Khan, who is not a known PPV attraction, it is doubtful if the fight will generate a million buys as predicted by de la Hoya.

The first Pacquiao-Bradley fight in 2012 garnered 700,000 PPV buys while the second which happened in April 2014 generated close to 900,000 buys.

Arum seems content with just doing the same or even a lower number and will be happy if it hits over 1 million buys.

“Will we do the same numbers for the first two Bradley fights? Probably not,” Arum told fightsports.tv recently. “We’re going to try to come as close as we can, and hopefully exceed it, but I understand what we’re up against. I’ve run my numbers and I have done my math. I’m not out here with my head up my [expletive],” Arum said.

Records will show the Pacquiao-Badley tandem is capable of generating higher number than the Alvarez-Khan bout in a race to a million PPV buys.

However, the fans are still undecided if they will watch the fight for the third time because they knew that Pacquiao had already proven his superiority over Bradley in their last two encounters.

If Top Rank can reorient its thrust in its promotional approach leading up to the fight, fans will realize that the third fight will be worth watching and if the right information is disseminated, it could generate a high PPV number and possibly hit a million mark.

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